Bilingual Students' College Choice

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 3
  In Roundtable Session: Two Ends of the Pipeline: Early Childhood and Higher Education Social Policy

Abstract

Scholarship of bilingual and English learner (EL) students’ college choice indicates alarming gaps in postsecondary engagement (Kanno & Cromley, 2013, 2015); however there is little to illustrate the potential impact of state policies related to undocumented immigrants’ college access, i.e., state DREAM Acts that grant undocumented immigrants in-state residency. Utilizing Perna’s (2006) Student College Choice Model, this study uses multilevel linear modeling to analyze data from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09) to understand how these policies shape bilingual students’ college choice. Accounting for academic and social factors, preliminary results indicate that state DREAM Acts increased the likelihood of bilinguals’ college going by 83% overall, regardless of individual students’ legal status. Results have implications for state policy.

Author

• Jennifer Majorana, Central Michigan University